Does the stock market reward innovation? European stock index reaction to negative news during the global financial crisis

This study uses data on 27 European stock indices over the period from January 2007 to December 2012 to investigate the relationship between innovations and the market reaction to negative news during the financial crisis. We use the bivariate BEKK-GARCH approach to estimate time-varying betas and abnormal returns. We show that index prices of countries in the high (low) innovation groups experience significantly positive (negative) abnormal returns on and following the negative news announcement dates. We also find that index beta changes following the arrival of bad news is negatively associated with a country's innovativeness. This finding suggests that innovations promote economic stability and enhance investors' confidence in a country's ability to cope during difficult times. Thus, policy makers who are concerned with sustainable growth should encourage R&D investments by adopting effective policies and avoid unnecessary cuts in R&D expenditures even during times of crisis. A study of the pre-crisis period from January 2001 to December 2006, using the same methods, indicates that investors value innovation more during difficult times

Public health campaigns and obesity - a critique

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Controlling obesity has become one of the highest priorities for public health practitioners in developed countries. In the absence of safe, effective and widely accessible high-risk approaches (e.g. drugs and surgery) attention has focussed on community-based approaches and social marketing campaigns as the most appropriate form of intervention. However there is limited evidence in support of substantial effectiveness of such interventions.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>To date there is little evidence that community-based interventions and social marketing campaigns specifically targeting obesity provide substantial or lasting benefit. Concerns have been raised about potential negative effects created by a focus of these interventions on body shape and size, and of the associated media targeting of obesity.</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>A more appropriate strategy would be to enact high-level policy and legislative changes to alter the obesogenic environments in which we live by providing incentives for healthy eating and increased levels of physical activity. Research is also needed to improve treatments available for individuals already obese.</p

Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe

Comprehensive analysis of chromothripsis in 2,658 human cancers using whole-genome sequencing

Chromothripsis is a mutational phenomenon characterized by massive, clustered genomic rearrangements that occurs in cancer and other diseases. Recent studies in selected cancer types have suggested that chromothripsis may be more common than initially inferred from low-resolution copy-number data. Here, as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we analyze patterns of chromothripsis across 2,658 tumors from 38 cancer types using whole-genome sequencing data. We find that chromothripsis events are pervasive across cancers, with a frequency of more than 50% in several cancer types. Whereas canonical chromothripsis profiles display oscillations between two copy-number states, a considerable fraction of events involve multiple chromosomes and additional structural alterations. In addition to non-homologous end joining, we detect signatures of replication-associated processes and templated insertions. Chromothripsis contributes to oncogene amplification and to inactivation of genes such as mismatch-repair-related genes. These findings show that chromothripsis is a major process that drives genome evolution in human cancer

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Alternative methods of assessing decision-making ability in undergraduate nursing students using a computer simulation

The purpose of this study was to investigate different methods of evaluating clinical decision making used by undergraduate nursing students using a computer simulation program. A nonprobability sample of 65 senior level nursing students completed a clinical-based computer simulation on the care of a client with acute complications of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Nursing students generated three different types of data with the use of the computer simulation. The first type was the end scores, a summation of the points obtained from all the multiple choice questions the student responded to on the simulation. The second type was the individual decision choices, the options selected by the student in response to multiple choice questions. Process oriented data was the third type. The student reported his/her own thoughts while making a clinical decision. End scores and decision choices are types of data routinely collected from a computerized simulation. Process oriented data is a qualitative component, in the student\u27s own words that is typically not obtained during a simulated experience. Faculty raters evaluated the students\u27 decision making ability after directly working with them in a hospital setting and after computer simulation data were generated by the students. Other measurement tools included the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, students\u27 self evaluations, and faculty confidence ratings. Conflicting results were found regarding the computer simulation program as an alternate method of evaluating clinical decision making. The simulations\u27 actual end scores were moderately correlated with the clinical evaluations (r = 0.38, p =.003, and r = 0.49, p $\u3c$.001). However, the raters\u27 evaluations from the simulation data were not significantly correlated with the clinical evaluation. They were significantly correlated with the Watson Glaser Appraisal (r =.27, p =.04 and r = 0.37, p =.005). Faculty raters\u27 high degree of confidence in their ability to evaluate students\u27 decision making via the computer simulation was reported, but only if the data included the process oriented data as well as end scores and decision choices

Alternative methods of assessing decision-making ability in undergraduate nursing students using a computer simulation

The purpose of this study was to investigate different methods of evaluating clinical decision making used by undergraduate nursing students using a computer simulation program. A nonprobability sample of 65 senior level nursing students completed a clinical-based computer simulation on the care of a client with acute complications of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Nursing students generated three different types of data with the use of the computer simulation. The first type was the end scores, a summation of the points obtained from all the multiple choice questions the student responded to on the simulation. The second type was the individual decision choices, the options selected by the student in response to multiple choice questions. Process oriented data was the third type. The student reported his/her own thoughts while making a clinical decision. End scores and decision choices are types of data routinely collected from a computerized simulation. Process oriented data is a qualitative component, in the student\u27s own words that is typically not obtained during a simulated experience. Faculty raters evaluated the students\u27 decision making ability after directly working with them in a hospital setting and after computer simulation data were generated by the students. Other measurement tools included the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, students\u27 self evaluations, and faculty confidence ratings. Conflicting results were found regarding the computer simulation program as an alternate method of evaluating clinical decision making. The simulations\u27 actual end scores were moderately correlated with the clinical evaluations (r = 0.38, p =.003, and r = 0.49, p $\u3c$.001). However, the raters\u27 evaluations from the simulation data were not significantly correlated with the clinical evaluation. They were significantly correlated with the Watson Glaser Appraisal (r =.27, p =.04 and r = 0.37, p =.005). Faculty raters\u27 high degree of confidence in their ability to evaluate students\u27 decision making via the computer simulation was reported, but only if the data included the process oriented data as well as end scores and decision choices

Health-Related Mobile Phone-Based Programs and Health-Care Utilization by Mothers of Infants: An Integrative Review

The purpose of this integrative review was to synthesize current research evidence on the effects of health-related mobile phone programs on health-care utilization by mothers of infants. A medical librarian in a university setting completed the computerized literature search in December 2018. Electronic databases searched were PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane, Embase, and PsycINFO. Inclusion criteria were: (a) population of mothers of infants (birth to 12 months); (b) mobile phone technology health-care interventions such as text messages, blasts, on-line discussion, social media, and self-help apps; (c) health-care utilization outcomes such as hospitalizations, emergency room visits, urgent care visits, clinic visits, and immunizations; and (d) empirical studies conducted in the USA. Exclusion criteria were: (a) publications written in a language other than English; (b) publications not in journals; (c) non-research; (d) abstract-only publications; (e) dissertations, opinion publications, case studies, and theoretical articles; (f) publications before 2000; and (g) publications from predatory journals. Following the computerized search and hand search of the literature, four articles were included in the final analysis. All studies using health-related mobile phone-based programs demonstrated a positive effect on health-care utilization outcomes. Mobile phone-based programs increased adherence to follow-up appointments for mothers or their infants as well as immunizations and vaccination rates. These programs were associated with decreased emergency room visits and hospitalizations. Because there is a paucity of studies about health-related mobile phone programs on health-care utilization by mothers of infants, the authors advocate for additional studies in this area